FLOORING & CARPETING

Hardwood

Some people prefer the natural genuine wood floors. Hardwood flooring creates a warm and inviting look; it comes in two categories, solid wood and engineered wood. Solid Wood, the most common consists of solid one-piece boards. Solid wood flooring is usually nailed to a sub-floor of wood and it is not recommended for basements or below-grade installations. Most popular wood flooring formats is wood strip that is also coming as a pre finish but one of the advantages is that solid hardwood floor can be sanded and refinished over several generations of use. One of the characteristics of solid wood flooring is that it expands and contracts with changes in your home's relative humidity. Normally, installers compensate for this movement by leaving an expansion gap between the floor and the wall. Base molding or quarter round is traditionally used to hide the extra space. The Engineered on the other hand - Is produced with three to five layers of hardwood. Each layer is stacked in a cross-grain configuration and bonded together under heat and pressure. As a result, engineered wood flooring is less likely to be affected by changes in humidity, and can be installed at all levels of the home.

Stone

Day after day, year after year, Stone flooring looks new and beautiful and withstands heavy traffic, moisture, temperature changes and everyday wear and tear. With its natural beauty, matchless durability and low maintenance, a Stone floor covering brings homeowners pride and peace of mind and under standard conditions will hold for a very long time eliminating the need of replacement this is the main reason it’s quickly becoming a mainstay in homes, apartments, and office buildings all over the world, being easy to maintain and clean, tile has connections to both beauty and safety. Creates an elegant and natural look together. Ceramic and stone are almost indestructible. Ceramic tile can be glazed or unglazed. Stone tiles vary in texture and color for a distinctive look. Both tiles are suitable for moisture-prone and heavy-traffic areas such as kitchens, bathrooms, foyers, laundry rooms. In the stone section we can find the Natural stone line such as marble, granite, or limestone or we can chose from the manufactured stones that consist of natural stone chips suspended in a bonding, manufactured material.

Vinyl Floor

Vinyl floor coverings are preferred by many homeowners for their ease of maintenance. Vinyl floor coverings may be applied over old flooring, and are easily cleaned with a vacuum or a mop with soap and warm water. To the delight of many householders, with proper care, many brands do not require waxing. Polyurethane coatings render a high-gloss finish that emulates a shiny, waxy surface and generally stays rather shiny over the years. As with many household materials, vinyl sheet and tile flooring comes in residential grade and commercial grade. Residential vinyl flooring varies in thickness, method used for imprinting or decorating, and style. Commercial vinyl floor coverings conform to specifications that require superior durability and stain resistance (particularly use-full in hospital settings). Some commercial-grade vinyl floor covering is non-slip for high public traffic areas. The numerous designs available for the floors representing major brands such as Armstrong, Vega and more…

Carpet

Whether you choose a room-size loose-laid or wall to wall permanently installed over padding, this soft floor covering, offers many practical advantages. The variety of colors and comfort gives any room a more "furnished" feeling. Colors can work magic, too. From sumptuous pastel plush to rugged Berber tweeds, carpet is a universally popular floor covering, in today's eclectic room schemes, carpeting is just one of numerous soft options for a high-fashion floor. There are some unique Advantages of Carpeting: Yarn construction and surface texture add soft contrast to a room's angular architecture. As versatile cover-up, carpet goes over any existing floor, with no need for a new subfloor, and it hides uneven surfaces and existing floor damage. Today, carpet is available with soil, stain, odor, and static-resistant features, and manufacturing techniques have increased its durability and clean ability.

Unique Designs For Your Hardwood Floor

The fact that hardwood comes from organic material means that no two planks of wood are ever going to be exactly alike. If you go for factory manufactured and prefinished wood, you might be able to see uniformity in the designs, especially with deliberatel distressed hardwoods, but, the bottomline is, when you use hardwood material for your floor, you are sure that what you are stepping and walking on is one of a kind.

This leads us to the question: what is it about hardwood floors that never go out of style no matter how the times and interior design principles change?

Hardwood floors offer a kind of natural sturdiness and reliability that cannot be found in most home building materials. Sure, concrete is great, but nothing beats a well finished hardwood floor to get that truly natural touch.

Having a hardwood floor in your home is an investment, but it is a one-time expenditure. This means you shell out a large amount only once because all you have to do is make sure the floor is clean and its finish its intact to for the next generations to benefit from it. Diligent waxing will do; so will constant deep cleaning.

If you want to see interesting designs on your hardwood floor, a good idea would be to have it distressed. Now you should be careful with this project as a poor distressing job could result in a disaster instead of a work of art. You should hire a professional to do this.

There are pre-distressed hardwood boards available in home building stores, but they are factory manufactured so they are likely to have repeating designs. With a hand distressed hardwood floor, you are sure that every inch is unique, and your floor will not look too fabricated. Experts on flooring can spot a fake dead-on.